Chanel Les 4 Ombres 39 Raffinement Review

While I was travelling, I picked up a few goodies at the airport (Duty free!). If you're travelling through or to Singapore, definitely have a look at the cosmetics. Changi Airport offers many brands and is a lot cheaper than Australian prices. 

I've had my eye on this quad since it came out in the Printemps Precieux de Chanel Spring 2013 Makeup Collection. I myself, now have a tiny collection of Chanel makeup. I do want to pick up a blush at least from Chanel, but that's later on down the road.

This quad, 39 Raffinement was released as part of this collection, however it is a permanent item. The overall feel of the quad is very neutral, all year around appropriate. 

Unfortunately, I can't upload the picture of the swatches for some reason. Temptalia has close ups of the swatches if you're interested.

THE COLOURS
The lightest color ( top right ) is a light shell color with warm undertones. It has a frosted sheen finish. I like using this for the inner third/inner corner of my eye. It's not too light as to draw too much attention which I like. 

The top left color is a medium brown with very fine glitter. Has a slight purple hint to it, but its not too noticeable. 

Bottom left is a bronze shadow, and similarly to the top right colour, it also has a frosted sheen. Of all the shades in this quad, the colour payoff is the best. Highly pigmented yet not too frosty. 

Bottom right is a matte dark chocolate shadow. Nothing particularly special about it, just your standard dark brown shadow.

The palette as a whole has a mauve undertone to it.

THE EYESHADOWS

With Chanel products in particular, there are regional differences. In Asia, Chanel eyeshadows tend to come in a baked shadow format, while in the US the eyeshadows are the standard pressed eyeshadows and are much softer in texture. Given this, the Asia region style shadows are still pigmented and relatively soft.

Anyone who has used baked eyeshadows would know that they tend to be hard and more difficult to pick up with a brush. However, the Raffinement quad doesn't pose that kind of challenge. I imagine the US region style to be a lot softer though. 

I've had bad experiences with baked eyeshadows - with pigmentation and the way they're used up. Sometimes after using them for a while, it becomes more difficult to pick up with the brush. Sponge applicators work well if you're finding that brushes won't cut it. The sponge applicators that was provided in this palette felt cheap though. I feel that the Dior 5 Couleurs have excellent sponge applicators and that these Chanel ones just don't compare. They are better than the drugstrore ones though. 

I think it's a lovely quad and worth the pretty penny you pay for Chanel. However, it's not a must have. If you already have good quality neutral eyeshadows then you can probably skip this. If you're like me, and you don't like to go into half a dozen palettes to do your eye makeup, then this is a good quad to buy. It's also a nice quad if you're looking into buying your first high end designer palette. 

My Filofax Week #8

More 5AM adventures with the boys.

Also met up with more friends during the week - for Laser tag at Sidetracked, a Melbourne Runners meetup as well as more movies.

Very social week, despite how empty my Filofax looks. I kinda want to fill it up more, but it might get too crowded. Plus I don't want to use messy hand writing in my Filofax. I probably will have to though.

My Week #7

This week.

I'm finally back in Melbourne! After 24 hours of travelling, I finally made it home. With some duty free in hand. If you're Australian, and you're stopping at Singapore - check out their luxury cosmetics. It's a hell lot cheaper than it is in Australia.

This week, I've moved into my new Compact Osterley! It's beautiful, I love it. The day after I arrived home, my mum took me to the Buddhist temple. Apparently it's a bad year for those born under the Monkey zodiac. 

Valentine's Day was a non-event for me. It's a pretty depressing day every year. As much as I say that I don't like receiving flowers, I would like to receive roses just once in my life. Not even a whole bouquet, a single rose is fine too.

Oh boy, Friday. I enquired at work about whether or not there's possibilities of me returning before meeting up with my friends. My bros! After badminton, we went and watched Django Unleashed. My friends were all warning me about it being a Tarantino film, that maybe I shouldn't watch it. But I was insistent. 

It was a good film, but I covered my eyes when blood was flying everywhere and body parts were shot in the most painful way possible. 

That night ... well, you can refer to my last post for that.

Blessed

Last night, I saw my friends again for the first time in 3 months. They're my closest friends, my bros. We've kept in contact over Skype, but it not quite like seeing them in person.

We did our usual Friday hang out - badminton followed by food, movie and pool.

I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends. Friends that truly do care for me, friends that go out of their way for me. Friends that make me feel like I'm almost half decent.

These are the kind of friends I will never ever let go of. They're the friends that inspire me to be a better character and in turn, a better friend.

From the bottom of my heart, I'm truly thankful. 

You know who you are. 

My Filofax Week 5 + The Influence of Games on My Life

Unfortunately I didn't post my Filofax Week last week. I didn't do very much that week since all I was doing was studying and gaming and napping. It sounds boring, but it's actually my ideal way of spending time.

It makes me sound like such a no-life geeky moron, but in all honesty, gaming is one of my biggest interests in my life. Ever since I was about four or five years old, I've been playing games. From basic dress up games (which I played for hours funnily enough) to strategy games to MMORPGs (which are my favourites), it's been a constant presence in my life.

I was never an extremely social person. I didn't know how to interact with people and I'm just awkward in general. Gaming was the one way I could escape the reality where I lost friends and was bullied almost constantly. I never had it as bad as some people did, but it did make me feel crappy and alone.

Online, people didn't judge you by your appearance, your background or anything else. They judged you by your actions and behaviour. And besides, gaming was a fun and engaging way to kill time on the weekend instead of mindlessly watching television.

So needless to say, gaming was my solace in my childhood and still is to this day. I'm lucky that my friends all like gaming so I'm never really lonely anymore - even when online.

So, to the post that you're all interested in, last week's Filofax pages.

It's the 2nd last week of the Winter semester here at SNU and of my time here in Seoul, Korea. So I've got a lot on my plate with packing, study and last minute shopping.

Next week will be more interesting. Most probably.